Disable the Check for Updates

[PeterS]

We want to distribute Ultraedit (version 12.10) to some workstation in silent mode. The users should not have the possibility to update this product.

Is it possible to disable the button "Check for Updates" under Help -> About?

Thanks

Peter

[Mofi]

As far as I know, NO. The button cannot be disabled except you use a program like Resource Hacker and remove the button from the about dialog of UltraEdit. But even this extremly dirty trick cannot prevent your users to simply download an update from this website and install it. You could configure a policy to disallow downloads from the websites of IDM. But the only possibility to prevent users from installing programs is that the users must work in restricted mode where program installations are not allowed.

You also have to write into the registry during installation

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\IDM Computer Solutions\UltraEdit]
"Query User For Updates"=dword:00000000

to disable the automatic upate feature.

[djl]

Hi,
We prepare our migration to Win7 and we want to distribute UltraEdit 16.10 in silent mode.
How can we disable the Check for update feature ?
The [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\IDM Computer Solutions\UltraEdit]
"Query User For Updates"=dword:00000000 does not work under Win7.
Thanks in advance for your anwser.
JL

[Mofi]

Since UE v13.20 the settings Query User For Updates and Last Update Check are now by default in uedit32.ini in section [Settings] and not anymore in registry to work also for UEM (UE mobile for U3) and UEP (UE portable).

And the meaning changed as the setting moved into the INI file.

[Settings]
Query User For Updates=1
Last Update Check=seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 (= NTP time value)

disables the automatic update check. (I think by updating the seconds value of Last Update Check on every start of UltraEdit.)

But on first start after an update where major or minor version number of

[Settings]
Version=v16.10

in uedit32.ini is not equal the version inside uedit32.exe, UltraEdit shows again the check for updates dialog and the file association dialog.

However, I was quite sure IDM has implemented a feature to disable query for updates by system administrators and just has not published this setting. So I used Regmon from SysInternals as I started UltraEdit with an uedit32.ini where Query User For Updates was set to 0 and the Last Update Check setting has had a value some months in the past. UltraEdit showed me the query for update dialog. In log of Regmon I searched for update and saw an interesting line. I opened in UE a new ASCII DOS file, entered

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\IDM Computer Solutions\uedit32\Locks]
"Updates"="1"

saved this file with name Disable_UltraEdit_Updates.reg and imported this file to my registry with a double click on this REG file. Then I closed UE, restored uedit32.ini with the "old" seconds value, cleared Regmon log, enabled Regmon capturing again and started UltraEdit.

BINGO! UltraEdit reads that registry key and does not show the query for updates dialog although the INI setting has value 0 and the last update check was some months ago according to value of Last Update Check. Also the menu item Help - Check For Updates and the button Check for Updates in the About dialog are now disabled.

Now you have the answer for your question, but every user too because this is a public forum.

Please note: I'm not sure about the correct type of this registry value. Using a double word value instead of a string value as shown below works also.

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\IDM Computer Solutions\uedit32\Locks]
"Updates"=dword:00000001

PS: The version numbering of the IDM products is major.minor.maintenance.build as used by many applications. See also Wikipedia article Software versioning. An update is the process where a new EXE is installed with the same major version number as the already installed EXE has. An update does in general not require a new registration code. An upgrade is the process where a new EXE is installed having a higher major version number as the already installed EXE has. An upgrade usually requires a new registration code.

Update: Since UltraEdit v17.30 there is the configuration setting Automatically check for updates at Advanced - Configuration - Application Layout - Miscellaneous which is by default checked and can be unchecked by the users. This configuration setting is stored in uedit32.ini with Check For Updates=1 or 0 in section [Settings].